I would have loved to be able to enter the Tabernacle of Moses, wouldn’t you? I’m not talking about a reproduction, but the real thing. Seeing the actual seven Tabernacle furnishing would be awe-inspiring.
In the courtyard, we know there were two furnishings: The Brazen Altar and the Brazen Laver, which represents first, repentance, and, secondly, water baptism. Atonement was made for sin at the altar with blood sacrifices. Between the altar (or repentance) and the Holy Place was the laver for washing. This symbolizes water baptism, where the washing of water separates us from the sins we left at the altar of repentance.
Once atonement has been made for our sins at the altar of repentance, and, as priests unto our God (1Pe 2:9) , we are washed with water ( Mar 16:16), we are then ready to enter the Holy Place. God’s Spirit is the Holy Place. We find 5 pieces of furnishing here: There we see the candlestick, representing God’s Church, filled with the Holy Ghost (
Act 1:8). We also see the Table of Shewbread, which represents God’s Word, the Bread of Life. Next we see the Altar of Incense which represents the prayers of the saints ascending up to God. (
Rev 8:4) Beyond that is a veil.. The entrance to the most sacred of places: the Holist of Holies. Inside are two furnishings: the Ark of the Covenant, symbolizing God’s immutable covenant with mankind, and the Mercy Seat, representing the very dwelling place of God
Wouldn’t it be something to see the Tabernacle with these furnishings? As great as that might be, remember this: These furnishings are just “things”. They are objects… tools used in the Lord’s service. Like doctrines, they are not the objects of our worship- they aid in our worship. They may help us to understand God yet, they fall short in revealing God to us. Jesus, God’s Son, was the very manifestation of God in the Flesh. Jesus Christ revealed God in the flesh. All too often, though, people get “hung up” on… things. Doctrines become their objects of worship. The Pharisees were like that about the Law. The Law of the Sabbath had become their god. Their doctrines and traditions had become their object of worship. The Law on Tithing took precedence over
“weightier [matters] of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.“ Mat 23:23. Doctrines are vital…they are important, but doctrines are not to become our objects of worship. What happens when we allow doctrines and traditions to become the objects of our worship? Jesus said we transgress the very Word of God we claim to hold dear to our hearts.
Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? Mat 15:3. A correct doctrine of truth becomes a tradition… a ritual… it becomes an idol, when it becomes central in our worship as was the case of the Pharisees. We spend hour after hour studying and discussing the doctrines of Christ, yet how much time to be spend studying and discussing Christ? Phillip did not preach about Jesus, nor did he preach a doctrine about Jesus went he went to Samaria (
Acts 8). He preached JESUS! And miracles, signs and wonders were wrought, because he preached Jesus. His message was of a living Gospel that garnered a tremendous harvest for God’s Kingdom. When doctrines about Jesus takes precedence over Jesus in our worship, our message falls flat. We are preaching a dead religion of ritual and tradition. But when we move past the Tabernacle furnishings…the doctrines of the Gospel…and enter into to that place where the Power of God dwells, then we will preach the Gospel. And God promised when the Gospel is preached, we can expect
“… the Lord [to start] working with [us], and confirming the word with signs following.”
I love this doctrine that we call “
the Apostle’s Doctrine”. I thank God for the day I repented of my sins while reading a prayer out of a Catholic Prayer Book. I’m glad for the November night in 1970 that I was baptized in water in the Name of Jesus Christ. I Praise God for that night in 1971 when Brother R.W. Schambach laid hands on me and I received the Baptism of the Holy Ghost. It was then and there that I entered the Holy Place. I rejoice for that day, sitting in a middle school classroom in Tennessee, when God revealed to me how three (Father, son, and Holy Ghost), are One. And I am grateful for all that He has taught me through His Word, by revelation and by the ministries I have sat under. But…I do not worship those things. They are not the objects of my worship. Should they become so, they become my idols, and I’m serving a dead religion. No, my worship goes beyond the furnishings of God’s Tabernacle.
Jesus, our High Priest, went through the veil beyond the altar of incense, and opened the way for us to enter the Holiest of Holies. There… beyond the prayers of the saints, there beyond the curtain, is the object of our worship. There is our Lord. Our Savior. There is our God.
Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Mat 4:10
How do we get there? We must pass through the smoke of the incense. We get there through prayer. Study is vital. Its necessary. But to go deeper… to go where God is, we must pray. Jesus said
Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting. Mat 17:21. Prayer humbles our spirit while fasting humbles the flesh. Do we want to go deeper in God? Then we must “
present [our] bodies a living sacrifice”.
Hebrews 6:1-2 speaks of
“…leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ…”. Abandon doctrines? No… a thousand times NO!. But we can’t stop in our quest for God at the furnishings in the Tabernacle. We cannot allow the furnishings to become our idols. We must move on to perfection, through prayer, and into the very dwelling place of God. We must embrace God’s Covenant and not the Ark and allow Christ rule in our hearts. We must not be content to serve a doctrine ABOUT Him.
Doctrines are vital if we are to gain any understanding about God and His nature. But listen as Paul seems to cry out:
That I may know HIM, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; Phl 3:10 I love the doctrines about Jesus, but it is Jesus I want to know! He is my redeemer. As wonderful as my repentance was…it did not save me. He did!. Water Baptism did not wash my sins away…Jesus, God with us, did! My doctrine, my belief, they will not raise me up at the last trump. God in me, the Holy Ghost…He will raise us up in the last day!
“Oh, I want to see Him, Look upon His Face,
There to sing forever, Of his saving grace
On the streets of glory, Let me lift my voice
Cares all past home at last, Ever to rejoice”
Yes, we must be doctrinally pure. That goes without saying. But, of greater importance is that we remain spiritually pure. My doctrine may be incorrect, but, if the Spirit within me is pure, He will lead and guide me to all truth. I may be absolutely correct in my doctrine, but if I harbor ill will against my brother, I am spiritually unclean. If I speak the truth without love, then my truth is no truth at all. If I gossip, spread rumor, or speak evil of, even my enemies, I am not prepared to go deeper in God. If my doctrinal views causes anger and rancor toward one who disagrees with me, then I am unfit to enter into the Holiest of Holies. If my doctrines, like the Tabernacle furnishings, become the objects of my worship, then I serve a tradition. A tradition that has become “my besetting sin”. Let us not stop at the furnishings
“…let us go on unto perfection…” Hbr 6:1 Perfection is where He is. In Him is perfection and, as I strive for perfection, if I am ever to attain it, I must move beyond the Holy Place, and enter
“…in heavenly [places] in Christ”. That is where I will find those great
“spiritual blessings” that await me there.
Eph 1:3 . I’ll not find them standing outside in court yard. I‘ll not find them debating and striving among the furnishings. No… I’ll have to go deeper into the Tabernacle. Past the doctrines about which Church is right. I’ll have to go beyond the contention over every jot and tittle of the Word. I’ll have to get beyond that and pray and seek the Lords will. I’ll have to rid my self of my spiritual pride and my
“excellency of speech of men’s wisdom“, and throw my self on the altar, saying,
“Lord, be merciful to me a sinner”. Then, when my spirit is pure…I can enter in and give my worship to Whom it belongs. Then I will join in unity with my brother and sister in Christ, and worship Him who has made us one in Christ. I think of the streets of gold. The walls of jasper. The “Mansions just over the Hilltop” they sing of. But my worship… my praise goes beyond mere furnishings. My worship goes to the Throne. My Praise goes to the One who sits on His Throne…
For in him we live, and move, and have our being;… Act 17:28
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